Hale admits to firing gun that killed Yvonne Leroux

Jack Hale takes to the stand in his own defence during first-degree murder trial

Yvonne Leroux

(LINDSAY) Accused killer Jack Hale, 60, took the stand in his own defence in Lindsay court Monday (Dec. 3). He admitted that he shot the gun that killed his estranged wife near Lindsay in 2008, but said it was an accident.
Mr. Hale was dressed in the same grey suit he has worn throughout the trial, which has lasted about five weeks so far, sporting a black shirt and no tie as he entered the witness box. He spoke in a calm, quiet voice throughout the chief examination of his lawyer, Tom Balka, as he told the court that he had driven to the trailer he had shared with his estranged wife Yvonne Leroux with a shotgun because he had planned to shoot it up. He came up with the idea to blow holes in the ceiling of the trailer to ruin it for Ms Leroux, who was awarded the trailer in a family court ruling. Court heard he made the decision after an all-nighter, fuelled by anger, beer and oxycodone.
“It was a stupid plan,” Mr. Hale admitted on the stand, but later added, “I had no intention of shooting anybody. There was not supposed to be anybody up there mid-week.”
He said he drove on back roads from his home in Oshawa to Riverwood Trailer Park south of Lindsay before dawn, in a car he told the jury he had rented to surprise his mother with a trip to a Syracuse casino later in the week. Mr. Hale then testified he parked a distance from the trailer, where he loaded six shotgun shells into his gun, put six more in his pocket and took the safety off and pumped the gun so it was ready to fire. He said he anticipated having to blow through the door of the trailer, as he expected to find it empty and locked.
He then made his way between trailers, coming up behind the one he had shared with his wife, when he heard a mutual friend announce his presence from inside the trailer.
At first he said he didn’t know what to do, but added, “Then I was really mad because they were there and they weren’t supposed to be, so that really irritated me.”
“Stupidly, I went in the trailer.”
Mr. Hale testified that he was “negotiating” with his estranged wife about their ongoing property disputes, at one point bringing the barrel of the gun up in the general direction of Ms Leroux, but not pointing it directly at her, but the wall.
It was when Ms Leroux got up, Mr. Hale believed to leave the room and end the conversation, when Mr. Hale said he was confronted by a pit bull he had not previously noticed in the trailer.
“The next thing I know, I have this pit bull staring me down and coming at me...it startled me and I pulled the trigger.”
At first, Mr. Hale told the court, he did not know the shot had hit Ms Leroux, instead thinking the concussion of the 12-gauge shotgun shell going off in the small space may have knocked her out.
“I saw the blood coming out of her head and know she had been hit, but didn’t know how she got hit,” he testified.
“She didn’t deserve to die,” he added later in his testimony.
At that point, Mr. Hale testified that he was in shock and went back to his rental car and drove away from the scene.
When it came time for cross-examination from Crown attorney Rebecca Griffin, Mr. Hale’s demeanor changed significantly. At times, the defendant was argumentative with the Crown, cutting her off, throwing questions back at her and raising his voice and speaking slowly when he repeated “I don’t know,” or “I already told you that,” on the stand, annoyance evident in his voice.
After the shooting, he spoke of driving around aimlessly, ending up in Belleville, where he went into a Walmart and bought items like a beard trimmer, explaining that he was planning on cleaning up to be more presentable when he turned himself into police in Lindsay. However, under further questioning, it was revealed that after Mr. Hale picked up the personal grooming products, he did not use them, even though he had several opportunities at rest stops, and instead of driving back to Lindsay, drove to the Quebec/Ontario boarder, before eventually making his way back towards Lindsay, where he said he planned to stop at his brother’s house to clean up and get a lawyer before turning himself in.
“Do you not understand, I said I was in shock, you don’t think rationally when you’re in shock,” he testified, to Ms Griffin’s incredulous response to his answers.
Ms Griffin also grilled the defendant about why he rented a car, with him responding that he was planning on surprising his mother with a trip to a casino in the U.S. that even though he knew his brother had picked her up to take her to Lindsay with plans to attend the Lindsay Fair on Friday or Saturday and never told anyone about the trip or booked any hotel room. Mr. Hale insisted that he wanted it to be a surprise and regardless of his brother’s plans with his mother, he knew she would prefer to go to the casino than the fair.
When the Crown pressed him on the logic of his plans to shoot up the trailer, the best Mr. Hale could offer was, “I didn’t say it was a smart idea, but it was the one I had.”
Mr. Hale’s testimony followed a relatively short opening statement from his lawyer, in which he stated that Ms Leroux’s death was a case of manslaughter and that Mr. Hale had not tried to or planned to kill his estranged wife, even though he admits that he shot the gun that killed her. Mr. Balka pointed out that in such a case, the onus is on the Crown to prove their case and the defence is under no obligation to present evidence.
“Mr. Hale does not have to prove anything. Mr. Hale is presumed innocent.”
He said his client was waving his right to remain silent because he wanted the jury to hear the truth in his own words. The truth, the defence holds, is that the shooting was an accident.
“He may be a lot of things, but he didn’t go to that trailer, in front of witnesses, to be a killer.”
Mr. Hale faces one charge of first degree murder and the second charge he was facing, using a firearm in the commission of an indictable offence, was withdrawn at the request of the Crown, also Monday.